IsaacZ
Member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2013
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- China
- Current Location
- China
He's telling us there's a whale out there for us. - Is "out there" an adverbial?
I’m a teacher of English from China and I am teaching my students how to diagram a sentence using certain lines and marks. There are two sentences in our textbook I am not sure how to diagram:
"Look, there's a shark out there," I screamed.
He's telling us there's a whale out there for us.
My question focuses on the phrase "out there". What are their parts of sentences?
I think it is used as an adverbial in the first sentence and in the second, together with "for us", it is used as a postpositive attributive (post modifier). But other teachers here gave a different opinion, saying "out there" in the second sentence is also an adverbial but put before the post modifier "for us". According to them, this sentence can be rewritten as: He's telling us there's a whale for us out there.
I don't agree with them because I did find some examples where "out there" is used as a post modifier:
This seems to be one of the oldest cliches out there, but in my experience it works.
So much writing out there in the world and who wants to read it?
Like any other person out there, I fall into habits, good and bad.
Just about every database out there has tools for doing this.
Nobody out there can get more from that group of players.
If the above sentences can prove that "out there" can be used as a post modifier, then why can't it be used this way in a "THERE BE" structure?
I’m a teacher of English from China and I am teaching my students how to diagram a sentence using certain lines and marks. There are two sentences in our textbook I am not sure how to diagram:
"Look, there's a shark out there," I screamed.
He's telling us there's a whale out there for us.
My question focuses on the phrase "out there". What are their parts of sentences?
I think it is used as an adverbial in the first sentence and in the second, together with "for us", it is used as a postpositive attributive (post modifier). But other teachers here gave a different opinion, saying "out there" in the second sentence is also an adverbial but put before the post modifier "for us". According to them, this sentence can be rewritten as: He's telling us there's a whale for us out there.
I don't agree with them because I did find some examples where "out there" is used as a post modifier:
This seems to be one of the oldest cliches out there, but in my experience it works.
So much writing out there in the world and who wants to read it?
Like any other person out there, I fall into habits, good and bad.
Just about every database out there has tools for doing this.
Nobody out there can get more from that group of players.
If the above sentences can prove that "out there" can be used as a post modifier, then why can't it be used this way in a "THERE BE" structure?